Shareholders in what is left of financial services group Fortis rejected the appointment of two of the company’s new five-strong board at a packed meeting in Utrecht on Monday.

New chairman Etienne Davignon scraped through with 50.6% backing, while CEO Karel de Boeck was approved by 63%.
As expected, both Jan-Michiel Hessels and Philippe Bodson failed to get enough support to take up their positions.
Belgian shareholders will have their say today.
During the meeting, which lasted until the early evening, Hessels admitted that mistakes had been made in the run-up to the company’s break-up.
After the company got into financial difficulties, the Dutch government nationalised the Fortis Nederland operations and France’s Paribas BNP bought most of the Belgian arm.
Fortis now consists of an international insurance operation and a credit portfolio. Its share price has slumped from €18 at the beginning of this year to less than €1.
Hessels also said that Fortis had paid too much for its stake in ABN Amro last year. ‘Perhaps far too much,’ the Financieele Dagblad quoted him as saying. But strategically the takeover was ‘an opportunity that we could not ignore,’ Hessels said.
For our report of Monday’s shareholders’ meeting, click here